Origin: Trentino Alto Adige (Italy)
Type: Italian Mountain Single Malt Whisky
Strength: 47.6%ABV
Ageing casks: New oak finished in new red spruce
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Villa de Varda
Average price: € 75.00
Official website: www.villadevarda.com/whiskyinquota
Vote: 81/100
The Italian way to whisky is being enriched by a new protagonist, who has decided to bring into play his hundred years of experience in distillation to create a product that embodies the spirit of its land.
If talking about terroir in whisky is always a bit borderline, in this case Villa de Varda (a family business known for its excellent Trentino grappa) wanted to focus on an all-Italian style: cereals grown at altitude by small farmers in the area, pure water from the Dolomites, classic distillation (bain-marie and column) and the use of casks made from a wood that embodies the uniqueness of Trentino, spruce.
It is the Paneveggio forest of Val di Fiemme that provides the raw material for these unique casks, already used for grappa, a wood prized for its qualities by Stradivari, who used it to make his violins, hence the name ‘violin forest’.
On the birth of this whisky and its processing, I refer you to the interview with Mauro Dolzan that will soon appear on these pages, while I now taste the first of the line’s four debut bottlings, presented at Eataly in Milan last October together with the two single casks made for the company.
Initially matured in classic new oak casks, it was then finished for a few months, again in new but spruce casks, for a total of about three years and a half of ageing and 1678 bottles produced.
Tasting notes
On the nose, lots of nutmeg on warm bread, freshly cut wood (resin), nuts (almonds, pine nuts), vanilla with a tendency to toffee and a mentholated, balsamic vein, evident especially along the length. A bakery in the middle of the woods.
In the mouth the spices return, albeit quietly, in a complex that becomes more balsamic where resin and woodland evocations return, with incursions of coffee, liquorice and chocolate. Touches of aniseed and rhubarb, while the sweeter side is relegated to the background, with toffee only appearing at times.
Medium-long, balsamic, mentholated finish with notes of coffee, wood, bread, aniseed and nuts.
A whisky that is still unripe but already expresses its mountainous personality, as in its creator’s intentions, and in this sense fully successful. Straightforward and direct with great drinkability, it is a promise of richness and depth that I am sure time will bring.